Printed on the label in big letters you are told this is 80% juice – just so you don’t get this confused with other juice drinks that have less nutrition. In this case, I wondered what the other 20% was. Well, after trying it, it was painfully obvious the other 20 was just sugar. This thing is so sweet it is sour, making your face pucker and wish you just stuck to licking battery acid.
Kronik has always been one of my favorite brands of energy drinks – partly because they have the coolest name (“Dood! I just scored some Kronik at the 7-11!”) and partly because they always looked so cool. I loved the lo-carb can, with a big “this will supress your appetite” warning and sleek distressed typeface. These always stood out from the monsters and rockstars on the shelves.
Having liked the others so much, I was looking forward to trying out this newest flavor. Unfortunately, the energy juice category is so full, they had some very serious competition on their hands. Rumba has 100% juice, and many others in this category are going with the same orange/pear/ citrus blend for taste, so I was looking for something to separate one of my favorite brands and look for something worthy. This one, however, strikes way below par.
Buzz/Nutrition:7
With 2000 milligrams of taurine, 100 milligrams of Guarana and Ginseng extract, glucosamine, milk thistle and insotol there is more than enough nutrients and vitamins to help you pretend this is a healthy drink. Of course the 280 calories a can kinda defeats that – as well as knowing that while better than many drinks touting to be energy juice, this one is not up to Tropicana standards.
As for buzz – there is no caffeine listed on the can, or on their site. The buzz I got from the entire can was probably more from the sugar than the caffeine. I did get an initial buzz, but that tapered pretty quickly, leading to a big sugar crash – leaving me with finding an afternoon pick me up to help recover.
Packaging:8
The cans of kronik have always been their biggest selling point – looking like something you would have to be dared to touch. Covered in spikes, bolts and barbs, these drinks always look downright mean. This can is no exception. Strong shiny aluminum with lightning bolts and crossed with barbed wire, this can screams BEWARE. My problems with this is the lack of info on the can. I really want to know how much caffeine I am consuming, or at least a rough estimate. While I was able to find the website, that was about the only thing I could find with any info as to what I was about to consume, or why I should be scared.
Taste:6
Thank goodness this drink is carbonated. The taste is so sweet it is sour, using natural fructose from the juice, and then adding high fructose corn syrup AND sucralose to make this the sweetest drink ever. Compared to other energy jices, this one tastes the least like you should drink this in the morning – like you would an ordinary juice. This is equivalent to starting off your morning with a cereal bowl of sweet tarts covered in orange crush.
Website:7 http://www.kronikenergy.com/
While this looks great, the things I want to know about the most are non-existent on the site. I can find their ads in BMX magazine, their skateboarding crew, and even music they like. But what I cant find out about is their company, what went into the drinks, what went into their branding, or anything useful about the drink itself. While I liked the style, I could not care less about their Photo Ops when the most infor I can find about Entourage is a reprinting of the can label.